


Afterimages

by ciaza



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Cannibalism, Dark Will Graham, F/F, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Murder Husbands, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb, everyone figuring out what happened, murder husbands killing people, past Will Graham/Molly Graham, psst they live, revenge wives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 08:21:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4698947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciaza/pseuds/ciaza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Different characters moving on with their lives after Wrath of the Lamb and coming to terms with what happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jack

Jack has had a nagging feeling in his gut since they found the dead police men and Hannibal and Will missing. He feels numb. Like he doesn’t know the world anymore, like he doesn’t know anyone anymore. It's sad, but it's a familiar feeling, one that he has not missed.

The media is buzzing on about Lecter’s escape and Will Graham turning sides. It is making Jack paranoid. Maybe this is what Will was planning all along…but he doesn’t let it sink in. He can’t let his faith in Will stumble again. He could be Lecter’s hostage. They could both be dead for he could know. After two days they call it in.

It’s a large family home by the sea. Papers said it was owned by Chiyo Murasaki. They quickly trace the name to Europe and to Hannibal’s past.

This is Hannibal’s house, Jack thinks as he walks to the crime scene. Hannibal has been here, recently. In the large patio area next to the cliff lies a body of a man.

”Fracis Dollarhyde, the Red Dragon.” Price confirms as Jack approaches. The man has cuts everywhere. A huge knife wound in his gut, which probably killed him and also a wound on his neck.

”Someone bit his jugular. ” Zeller adds pointing at the mans throat.

”Dr. Lecter.” Jack says and nods.

”We found a lot of blood patterns on the ground. Probably from Dolarhyde’s killer as well. We took samples.” Jack observes the scene. Dollarhyde looks like he has been ripped apart. The ground is covered in dried blood. It looks bright red and radiating in the sunlight.

”The blood was from Doctor Lecter.” Price confirms a day after as Jack walks into their laboratory.

”But we also found a match to Will Graham.” Zeller adds. He looks at Jack grimly and full of questions.

The plan was to kill Dolarhyde. And kill Lecter. Maybe Will did that all by himself?

”All of the three men were fighting.” Jack says out loud.

”Whom against whom?” He mutters. Zeller looks at Price for confirmation, Price nods. They will share their theory.

”We went through Dolarhyde’s wounds.” Price starts and lifts the cloth from the body that had been covered so far.

”Here we can see stab wounds in his legs and stomach. He also had few on his back. Meaning some one attacked him with a knife.” Price steps back from the body and signals Zeller who continues.

”But his jugular was bit of. We could also find bruises on his neck. And a wound from an axe in leg. Some one was fighting him with bare hands and an axe for a short while.”

”Two attackers?” Jack asks them.

”More importantly we found the knife and the axe. Axe’s prints match doctor Lecter, knife is Will Graham.” Zeller says. It pains him to say those words. Once again he is denouncing Will Graham. He needs to be right this time.

”We haven’t found them yet.” Jack says.

”Did Will really help Lecter escape?” Price asks Jack before he has the chance to leave. Jack sighes.

”We had a plan…” he starts but doesn’t know how to finish.

_Will you slip away with him?_

_A part of me will always want to._

Jack doesn’t know what to think anymore.

They go back to the crime scene the next day. Blood spatters are discovered near the cliff. They send a team down there. They find a shoe. White, simple prison tennis.

After that they search the coast for days. Nothing more. No bodies. The media is still wild about Lecters escape and Grahams betrayal. Until the FBI releases its statement:

"We have reason to believe Mr. Graham used Lecter to hunt down The Tooth Fairy Killer. Whose body has been found. Mister Graham and Doctor Lecter disappeared but after a thurough search we have declared them dead by drowning. Mister Graham died a hero, for justice against two known serial killers."

Jack attend Will’s state organized funeral for an officer who died in the field. He spots Miriam Lass there. Alana is absent. Molly Graham cries and holds his son close.

Days turn to weeks. But the nagging feeling doesn’t go away. Then one day a missing persons announcement comes in. Badelia Du Maurier.

It goes to another department, but Jack can’t resist. The picture of what happened is still fuzzy to him. She had been having conversations with Will. Maybe she could clear it for him. He gets access to visit her home and so he does. It has been already investigated by an FBI team.

Jack walks through the huge house with no idea what he is looking for. The kitchen has a huge cabinet with postcards on it. Postcards about Florence and Paris. Jack grunts. Badelia famously travelled in Europe after Hannibal’s incarnation, trying to ”find her memories”.

One post card catches his attention. It’s a picture of the Palermo Chapel from the inside. He can still see the heart shaped body in the middle of it.

Jack opens the cabinet door to which the post card was attached to. It’s a teacup cabinet. Filled with expensive china. Except he can spot something white underneath them.

He lifts the cups one by one, careful not to break them, until he can see an envelope. He picks it up and opens it to find a letter. As he starts reading he quickly recognizes the handwriting:

_Dear Jack,_

_I hope this letter finds you someday. May it serve as my farewell as I slip away. I want you to know that you did not break me and I hold no grudge towards you of your continuous manipulations. I am well and more importantly I am free._

_As much as we want to stay dead to the world it was impossible to do that to you._ _We would ask you to keep this letter to yourself, but if you can’t do that so be it. May we never see again, but if we do We do look forward to it._

_Will Graham & Hannibal Lecter_

Jack also recognizes the second hand writing, in which the last name has been written on the paper. His breathing begins to quicken and he sits down clutching the letter. The picture is complete now, it makes sense, but he still has no idea what to do. He forcefully bites down his lip as he crushes the letter with his fist.


	2. Alana

They watch the news on television in their little villa in France, far away from the civilization. Alana clutches on Margot’s hand.

_No bodies have been found….presumably dead….a funeral will be held…_

Alana shuts the television and goes to check on their son.

A week after they are having a ”mothers’ night” all by theirselves, as they lay on their bed Margot suddenly speaks,

”We could go back.”

Alana turns to look at her wife.

”France is nice.”

”So is home.” Margot replies.

”I think Henry misses the horses.”

Alana smiles and caresses Margot’s cheek with her hand.

”We need to be absolutely sure. Maybe in a few years.”

* * *

 

They are asleep, arms wrapped around each other, Margots cheek resting on her elbow.

Then Alanas phone from the nightstand drawer rings. When they left she took with her one phone and gave the humber only to two people, one of whom is dead.

Sleepinly Alana opens the drawer and looks at the ringing phone. No caller ID. She doesn’t think about it much…maybe Jack has just changed numbers. She answers it.

”Hello Alana.”  The voice that echoes beyond the grave spings her up in seconds.

”Will?” She says breathlessly.

”You are alive?”

Her sudden movements have awoken Margot who is opening her eyes, looking at Alana and listening to the conversation with great interest.

”I am.” The unmistakable voice of Will Graham who does indeed sound very much alive answers.

”What happened? Do you need my help?” Alana replies. She is still sleepy and not grasping the situation fully.

”You have been officially declared dead.” She adds.

Will laughs. It is weird to hear him laugh. He sounds actually amused.

”I know, but I am completely fine. I think you have helped me enough. I wanted to thank you for that. This is a goodbye of sorts I believe. As polite as I can make it. My last words for you before I am dead to you too.”

Alana stays silent for a while. She doesn’t understand.

”As a thank you for your friendship I can promise you safety. I believe we have other plans.”

She can detect playfulness in his tone. It sounds odd coming from his mouth

”But still. He wants to say goodbye too.”

As the phone apparently changes hands Alana finally understands…If Will is alive and well. Does it mean that…?

”Hello Alana.”

His tone is cool as ever. Alana freezes.

”Hello Hannibal."  Margot sits up next to her and starts to draw with her fingers on her bare back. She is great at calming Alana down… giving her courage.

”How is France?” Hannibal asks. Alana doesn’t reply. _How does he know?_

She feels a calming finger tracing her collarbone now. They are safe. Hannibal can’t get to them here.

”Wonderful.” She says.

”How is Will?”

”Wonderful.” There is affection in his tone. Love even.

”What have you done to him? What will you do to him?”

She can hear laughing from the line. It’s Will’s again.

”I am planning on making him lunch in a few hours. Maybe taking him to a theater and ravish him after. Our plans are not clear.”

Alana is confused. Until she hears a clear bark from the line as well. They have dogs.

”Will chose you freely. You chose him. You escaped together.” She says as the understanding flows in.

”Yes.” Hannibal replies. He sounds happy and exhilarated, still. Like a man that has received the greatest gift ever imagined.

She gulps. She should have seen this coming. She knew Hannibal could escape and create havoc in the world, She knew he had an obsession with Will and that Will always had a terrifying soft spot for the cannibal, but Will and Hannibal actually co-existing and being together still never crossed her mind

”Will insisted on giving you a call. A goodbye of sorts. And a warning.” Hannibal voice gets more serious.

”I am still out there. I always keep my promises.”

Hannibal makes a sudden choking sound and Alana can hear a husky whisper.

_”Always such a tease. But may I remind you that we have other plans”_

She can imagine them so clearly. Sitting on some hotel bed, Hannibal holding the phone to his ear as Will pulls Hannibal’s tie and playfully chokes him while whispering to Hannibal's other  ear.

Will finally acting without restrains and carefully constructed forts.

It is like it was always supposed to come to this.

”But it might take a while.” Hannibal finishes. She can hear a satisfied hum from the background. As much as she is afraid, there’s another feeling as well.

”Tell Will that I am happy for him.” She says and is surprised to hear the words come out of her own mouth. She doesn’t know if she genuinely means it or if it’s sarcasm.


	3. Freddie

The latest issues of Tattle Crime sells more copies than the last year’s conbined.

Freddie feels powerful and proud. The dragon is dead and a veil of mystique surrounds the apparent death of Doctor Lecter and Will Graham. She is, of course the expert journalist on them.

She starts to save up and gathers money to a lengthy trip to Europe. To travel where they once travelled, to see, experience and picture what Will and Hannibal once did. And also to write a best selling book about it. She is going to get rich.

She arrives on Paris first. It was said Lecter stopped there with Badelia. She needs to at least take a few pictures and get a feeling of the city so that she can include it in a book chapter. Still the stop was supposed to be a short one.

The streets are narrower and buildings hold echoes of history, is the first thing she comes up with as she walks in Parisian streets. A history of Hannibal Lecter as well. She smirks. She’ll write something like that in her future bestseller. Dramatism sells well.

As it gets darker she heads for her nice 3 star hotel. She smiles at the receptionist and goes to her room and plans on writing a few chapters of her book. She opens the door and someone hits her with something heavy on her head. She blacks out immediately.

* * *

 

Freddie wakes up to light conversation around her.

”Completely tasteless.” A disapproving male voice says.

” Still have troubles with taste?” Another one asks, clearly amused.

” My tastes may have changed, but I still recognize bad taste when I see it.”

Freddie opens her eyes. She is tied to an arm chair, still in her hotel room. Will Graham is sitting on her bed going through her laptop. He lifts his gaze to her, noticing her waking up.

”Hello Freddie. I was just enjoying your journalism.” He says and smiles. Freddie moves uncomfortably in her cuffs. She has seen Will Graham acting threatingly. This is not it. This is something else.

”Did you rise from the dead to indulge me in another plot of yours?” Freddie says calmly. Scared as she may be and surprised to see Will Graham alive, after all that she has been through she doesn’t shock easily.

”Not this time.” Will doesn’t speak more, but goes back to browsing her computer.

”I’m writing a new book.” Freddie says.

”If you untie me I can show it to you from there. Add anything you like.”

”I think I already found it.” Will replies.

”A file called The Life and death of the Murder Husbands. ” Will snorts as he finishes the sentence.

”Murder husbands?”

A voice behind Freddie asks and suddenly she remembers she had heard a third voice in the room.

”Is that what they call us?”

Freddie tries to turn around as much as she can while tied up and manages to see a glimpse of sharp dressed Hannibal Lecter who is covering the floor with a plastic sheet. She turns back to Will Graham, who still looking at her computer very disapprovingly.

They are going to kill her. And they are being awfully mundane about it. And they are not dead. They have been alive all this time doing god knows what. Judging by the situation and the normality that she can detect from the men she can guess what they have been doing.

Will shuts her computer and stands up approaching her. She notices he is wearing a plastic suit over his expensive looking suit jacket and straight pants. He has a scar on his cheek. Other than that he looks fine. He carries himself differently, with more confidence. He has found his place in the world, Freddie thinks.

”You don’t seem very surprised to see us.” He remarks.

”I am surprised that you are alive. ” She replies.

”I am not surprised at the situation.”

Will laughs.

”You’re the first one.”

Freddie tries not to think about what the statement means. How many people they knew have died already? Or disappeared? She can remember reading about Badelia. At least now she knows what happened to her.

”I called you murder husbands, Will.” She says.

” I always saw what no one else could not. And I was right. ”

Suddenly she isn’t that scared anymore. If she dies here everyone will know. She’ll be famous and respected. The journalist that got to close and got cannibalized by the killers she was writing about.

”What will you make of me?” She whispers.

”Lomo saltado.” Hannibal says from behind her. He is standing up, the floor is finished.

”Will the meat be bitter this time?” Will asks looking at Hannibal. There’s a tone of inside joke in his voice and Hannibal lets out a soft laugh. He walks to Will and then they are both standing in front of her. Hannibal smiles fondly as he hands Will a knife. As much as Freddie has been writing about them, imagining them doing just this, the reality of it still sends shivers down her spine. Will takes the knife, their touching hands linger.

”You slice the ginger.” Hannibal whispers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters will not be in chronological order, as this one feels like it's maybe a year after the finale.


	4. Molly

Molly Graham is no stranger to losses. She has lost much in her life, but has always been able to rebuild. So even though she spends the first week after her husbands death crying her self to sleep she knows she will be alright. She always is.

They move to a different state and and buy a new house. She goes to claim the dogs back from the vet and plans on selling them. As much as she loves dogs they will always remind her of Will. She needs to move on with there life. She doesn’t pay attention to when the vet panickingly tells her one of the dogs was already claimed and they are so sorry for the mishap.. Molly Graham just smiles.

”It’s ok. Don’t worry, miss. It doesn’t matter.”

 

* * *

Time passes and they rebuild. Walter has new friends, whose parents don’t know about his dead step father. Just a single mother and her son trying to move forward. It starts to feel normal, she has after all experienced it before. Still she doesn’t start to date. In stead she picks up a first copy of the Tattle Crime in her life and reads it from cover to cover.

It’s not like Will prohibited her from reading it. But every time they passed the magazine stand in stores Will would glance at the paper murderously. Molly always thought it was rather adorable.

She starts to read about her late husbands past in the words of Freddie Lounds, who has apparently taken a great interest in him after his death. Little by little she starts to feel like she didn’t really know him at all.

Still, it’s not like Will ever hid anything from her.

 

* * *

_Molly had noticed the cute, silent guy walking a bunch of dogs around town. After glancing him from a far she finally asks him out, rather spontaneously. They go to a restaurant._

_Will, the cute dog guy doesn’t look her in the eye but smiles as they converse._

_”So any crazy exes I should know about?” Molly asks finally. It’s always the ice breaker conversation theme. Will smiles turns to uncomfortable ones._

_”No…nothing like that.”_

_Molly laughs._

_”Don’t worry. I can handle it.” She says with a wink. Will finally looks at her clearly._

_”You don’t know who I am?” He asks in a hushed tone._

_”Should I?”_

_”I…I was in a lot of crime magazines a year back. I used to work for the FBI. ” Will takes a pause._

_”I was involved in the Lecter case.”_

_”Hannibal the Cannibal?” Molly asks. Will nods uncomfortably. She can see he disapproves of the nickname._

_”I have a lot of issues from that time I haven’t dealt with.” Will admits and takes a sip from his drink._

_”You seem fine to me.” Molly remarks. Will looks at her, questioning. She smiles and starts to explain._

_”I mean you nurse the local strays. I do that too. I find it that dogs offer a lot that people can’t. And that people who are kind to dogs are often kind people who are too scared to try and be kind to other people.”_

_Will smiles a little._

_”I like that theory.”_

_”How many dogs do you have?” She asks after a while._

_”Seven, at the moment.” He admits._

_”I have six.” They laugh._

_”Who is your favorite? I mean you’re never supposed to admit it out loud, like with kids, but we all have one don’t we?” She continues._

_”Winston.” He says without a doubt. Molly laughs again and waits for explanation._

_”I acquired him during a very specific phase in my life.” He starts._

_”He was there for the worts of it and the best of it. And now that it is all over it feels like he is the only one left from that time. I don’t know whether it is a good thing, to be reminded. But I feel like I could never leave him behind.”_

 

* * *

 

One night, when Walter is already asleep a black bentley pulls up to their yard. Molly watches from her bedroom window as Jack Crawford pulls out. Molly changes to casual clothes from her pajamas and opens him the door. She hasn’t seen him since Will’s funeral but the man looks tired. Like he drove to her house many hours straight  on whim.

Jack tells her good evening and sits by her kitchen table. Molly offers to make tea, the situation is awkward. She joins him on the table.

”Why are you here, Jack?” She asks as she sips her tea. Her tone is not friendly, she thinks she can’t ever be friendly with this man. She doesn’t want to blame anyone for what happened. But still, Jack Crawford is one of the people she ends up blaming. Jack’s face twitches and he is holding his teacup rather forcefully.

”I just needed to tell you that…” He looks at her, straight in the eye and stops the sentence. He turns his glance to his tea.

”I’m sorry, Molly.” He says with a calmer tone.

”I’m so sorry for what happened.”

”Is that all?” Molly asks. She is rather taken a back, the head of the FBI’s Behavioral Science unit just turned up at her house in the middle of the night to say sorry?

”Yes.” Jack says as he stands up. The look he is giving her screams no, he wants to tell her something, but can’t.

”I’ll be going now.” Jack says and walks to the front door.

”Thank you for the tea, Mrs. Graham.” He says. ”Stay safe.”

* * *

 

Jack’s last words to her start to haunt her. _Stay safe_. What should she possibly stay safe from? She has read enough to know that all the murderers his husband had close contact with are dead or incarcerated. Then Freddie Lounds disappears and something clicks.

The police find nothing, Freddie's hotel room in Paris is clean, but she never arrives to the flight to Rome she was supposed to take. The media is taking it as a stunt of hers to get more attention, it is not like she hasn’t done it before, they write.

Suddenly Molly is reminded of the look Will would give to her tableaus. As she searches more information she comes across an article talking how Doctor Bedelia Du Maurier, who was also involved in the Ripper cases has also been missing for a long time now. Molly smiles grimly at her computer screen. From that day on she knows.

* * *

 

 _”It’s not like she killed anyone right?” Molly asks him. They are sprawled in her bed. It feels special, since Will is talking about something from his past. Will always seems like a different person when he talks about it, harsh and rather cruel. But her Will is nothing like that. The Will Graham she married and lives with_ _. She caresses her tummy while he speaks._

_”She participated. She knew and manipulated events that lead to death. It’s the same thing.”_

_”Your judgement of her seems rather harsh.” She says finally._

_”You killed a man too.” She whispers. Will turns to look at her._

_"A bad man.”_

_”I know.” She says and nuzzles her head to her shoulder._

_”You play, you pay.” Her husband says in a cold tone that sends shivers down her spine._

* * *

 

She doesn’t do anything with her knowledge, but a clear pattern is there if one searches for it; Bedelia Du Maurier, a man who lived near Will and Molly for a while and used to beat his wife, Freddie Lounds, a woman who attended the same opera events as doctor Lecter and was suspected to be a black widow. All missing.

She knows she can’t be the only one who figured it out, one way or another. She remembers the look Jack Crawford gave her. If a FBI agent knew and did nothing, why should she?

She ponders about it for months, until finally a new neighbor of hers asks her out. They share a lovely meal and talk about his cats.

* * *

 

Later that night she takes out a picture of him she has kept inside her desk drawer. Will Graham smiles at her while holding a fishing rod and a nearly caught fish. She bites her lip and rips the picture apart.

Will Graham is dead. So is Hannibal Lecter. At least the versions everyone else knew of them.

Long live Will Graham. Long live Hannibal Lecter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was hard to write...mainly because Molly deserved so much better. Also a lot of flashbacks..hopefully it's not too confusing.
> 
> Also the crazy ex' conversation is totally from a tumblr post.

**Author's Note:**

> After the emotional finale I finally decided to post something to this site.  
> This is my version of the Wrath of the Lamb aftermath. One of the many fics of this type I'm sure we will have ( at least I hope)


End file.
